Month: April 2015

I find it interesting when different vegetables become the latest and greatest thing, the “food of the week” so to speak. You would have to live under a rock lately to not see all the many ways to eat cauliflower. No longer the spurned veggie because it’s only white and not “colorful.” Cauliflower has arrived on the vegetable social scene with a vengeance!

When I checked the brochure The Cancer Fighters in your Food (available from the American Institute for Cancer Research), I read that cauliflower provides the phytochemicals sulforaphane and lutein, like many other cruciferous veggies do. Sulforaphane belongs in the Isothiocyanate phytochemical family, and the possible actions and benefits of these include:

Antioxidant activity

Blocking tumor growth

Apotosis- causing cancer cells to die and

Inhibiting inflammation

All good things for sure! Check out their web site to order reliable information and access tons of fabulous, healthy recipes.

Back to our favorite white cruciferous veggie – I have always enjoyed lightly steaming cauliflower and eating it with just a touch of parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Or raw in salads, especially subbing in for broccoli on occasion. But, to get your juices flowing, check out just a few of the recipes creative people have come up with.

The National Bike Challenge is a nationwide event to challenge people to ride bicycles more often to create a healthier workplace and get people excited about bicycling. Now entering its fourth year nationally, the event is a free, easy way to challenge yourself, your colleagues and your community to ride more while competing on a local, state and national level.

More than 45,000 riders logged 23 million miles nationally last year. In 2015, the challenge is aiming for 75,000 riders between May 1 and Sept. 30. The goal in Washington state is to see 1,000 participants this year. Memorial has signed on to the National Bike Challenge and is encouraging others to do so as well. Randy Brown of Memorial’s Information Systems Department appeared on KIT 1280 on April 28, 2015, to talk more about it.

Why is Memorial participating?

Memorial recognizes that having a Healthy Yakima means having a healthy population and a healthy environment, and the National Bike Challenge is a fun way to work toward that goal.

This is a fun, team-building experience that will help build camaraderie in the workplace as participants work toward a common goal and compete against other businesses in the region, state and country.

Bicycling reduces emissions and greenhouse gases. Nearly 50 percent of all trips in metropolitan areas are 3 miles or less and 28 percent are one mile or less – distances easily covered by bicycle.

Joining the National Bike Challenge is a great way to kick off National Bike Month in May!

Why do you participate?

Health: In the past 12 months, I’ve ridden over 1,200 miles, and I have more energy and feel healthier than I ever have. I ride about 8 miles round trip Monday through Friday.

Economics: About a year ago, my wife and I took a financial course that taught us solid principles for getting and staying out of debt. Since then, we’ve made several changes in our lives to insure that we are financially stable, saving money and being good stewards of what God has given us. In the past 12 months, I’ve saved 60 gallons of gas and about $447 by riding to work and other places around Yakima.

Environment: We kept about 1,186 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the environment because I rode in the past 12 months.

Prizes: I love entering (and winning) contests! The National Bike Challenge offers monthly prizes based on the number of miles that you’ve ridden. The more you ride, the greater the chance of winning. Memorial also is offering employees MyWellness points for joining the challenge and riding at least 20 miles, and they have an opportunity to enter to win prizes based on the points they’ve earned.

How do you track your miles?

The “Moves” app automatically tracks walking, running and cycling miles, and it knows when you’re exercising without having to tell it. There are similar apps in the marketplace, and the National Bike Challenge website connects with these apps so your miles are recorded to the site. It’s really cool and easy!

Dealing with the death of a loved one is difficult, and no one should grieve alone.

Memorial Family of Services invites you to a celebration of life service to remember your loved one and all those we have loved and lost.

The service will be held Wednesday, May 13, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Cottage in the Meadow, located at 1208 S. 48th Ave., Yakima. The service includes a small memorial ceremony, music and refreshments and is offered at no charge by The Memorial Foundation. Parking is limited, so carpooling is encouraged.

For more information about this event or about Memorial’s bereavement services, call Julie Cicero (SIS-er-oh) at 574-3670 or visit www.yakimamemorial.org.

It’s difficult living with a life-limiting illness. Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital’s hospice and palliative care programs provide services to people suffering a life-limiting illness and their families.

But these programs rely heavily on volunteers. Whether it’s a home hospice program or the Transitions palliative care program, volunteers provide vital services and information to families in need.

They may handle light meal preparation, housekeeping or medication delivery. They provide companionship – maybe helping to make a quilt, style someone’s hair or reading aloud.

Memorial is seeking people who may be interested in volunteering for its hospice and palliative care programs. Volunteers must meet certain requirements and complete several hours of specialized training.

Five Wishes is more than a living will. It lets you choose the person you want to make health care decisions for you if you are not able to make them for yourself. It lets you say exactly how you wish to be treated if you get seriously ill. It’s easy to use – all you have to do is check a box, circle a direction or write a few sentences. And it’s recognized in 42 states – including Washington – and the District of Columbia.

Memorial is holding seminars to help people in our community complete the 5 Wishes advance directive:

Memorial Chaplain Laurie Oswalt appeared on KIT 1280 on April 21, 2015, to discuss the 5 Wishes and encourage people to attend these seminars.

So what are the five wishes?

Wish No. 1: Who do you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them for yourself?

This allows you to designate a durable power of attorney, which is legal in Washington. Choose someone who knows you very well, cares about you and who can make difficult decisions. A spouse or family member may not be the best choice because they are too emotionally involved. Sometimes, they are the BEST choice. It depends on the situation. But choose someone who is able to stand up for you so that your wishes are followed.

Wish No. 2 is your wish for the kind of medical treatment you want or don’t want.

Wish No. 2 is the living will that describes acceptable and unacceptable medical treatment. Life support treatment means any medical procedure, device or medication to keep you alive. It includes medical devices to help breathe, food and water supplied by tube, CPR, major surgery, blood transfusions, antibiotics and anything else meant to keep you alive. This wish allows you to choose if you want life-support treatment, if you don’t want it or want it stopped if it has been started, or if you want it only if your doctor believes it could help your condition.

Another two-page form allows you to summarize your wishes for end-of-life treatment, to be kept in your file for the future. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment – or POLST form – lists a set of medical orders that are intended to guide emergency medical treatment for people with advanced illness.

Wish No. 3 is your wish for how comfortable you want to be.

Do you want your doctor to administer medicine to relieve your pain? Do you want your caregivers to do whatever they can to help you if you show signs of depressions, nausea, shortness of breath or hallucinations? Do you want your lips and mouth kept moist to stop dryness? Do you want religious readings and well-loved poems read aloud when you are near death?

This is about exactly what it says: making you as comfortable as you want to be when you are near the end of your life.

Wish No. 4 is your wish for how you want people to treat you.

Do you want people with you? Do you want to have your hand held, even if you don’t seem to respond to the voice or touch of others? Do you want people nearby praying for you? Do you want to die at home?

Wish No. 5 is to ensure your loved ones know what you want them to know when your time is near.

You wish for your family and friends to know that you love them, and for them to respect your wishes even if they don’t agree with them. You want them to respect your choice to be buried or cremated.

Generosity of Spirit Multiplied
By Laurie Oswalt, M.Div.Director of Spiritual Care at Memorial
I was in the basement of Memorial Hospital one morning, walking past an area where furniture waits to be repaired. I overheard one employee tell another about an extravagant wheelchair that had been donated by a family after their loved one had died, and the employee didn’t know what to do with it. In typical fashion, I interrupted the two employees, saying, “I know EXACTLY what to do with it!” I took it and put it in my office, then I contacted my friend, Ted Cowan from the Naches Lions Club and asked if he could use it. Could he ever!!
The Naches Lions Club has a program for receiving, and loaning out, medical equipment to patients in our area. The Lions Club has a barn in Naches where all of the equipment is stored—it’s an amazing space, where everything from canes to commodes to crutches, from wheelchairs to hospital beds, from lift chairs to bath chairs is housed. People are welcome to borrow equipment, at no cost. When the equipment is no longer needed, then the equipment is returned…often with more medical equipment that has accumulated in the family garage.
This program works for two reasons: it’s an inexpensive way to meet a need in our community, and equipment is borrowed and returned…and more is donated. If you have any medical equipment that you would like to offer to the Lions Club medical equipment program, please contact Ted Cowan of the Naches Lions Club: (509) 653-2486.
Now, what about that great wheelchair that was in my office? Well, apparently the people I explained the program to (the ones who gave me the wheelchair) thought it was such a great program that they decided to add to it; I left my office to go to a meeting, and by the time I got back, my extravagant wheelchair had multiplied to TWO wheelchairs!

We’re entering spring allergy season, and those who suffer from allergies know all too well the misery this time of year brings. Dr. Ryan Black of Yakima Ear, Nose & Throat offers some tips for avoiding and treating allergies.

Here are some stats to consider:

50 million Americans suffer allergies. That’s 30 percent of adults and up to 40 percent of children.

Allergic rhinitis, more commonly known as hay fever, can be seasonal or affect people year round. Seasonal allergies are triggered by pollens from trees, grasses or weeds or airborne mold spores.

Allergies are rarely life-threatening, but if you consider the millions of dollars spent on anti-allergy medications and the cost of lost work or school time, this is no small problem.

What are some tips for managing symptoms?

Know your allergy. You may think you know what’s causing your allergy symptoms, but more than two-thirds of spring allergy sufferers actually have year-round allergies. An allergist can perform tests to pinpoint the cause of your symptoms and identify how to treat them.

Don’t wait too long to take allergy meds. Don’t wait until symptoms kick in and you’re already suffering. Instead, prepare by taking medication that has worked for you in the past just before the season starts.

Steer clear of your allergy triggers. If you have a pollen allergy, make sure you keep your windows shut, take a shower when you come inside and stay indoors during mid-day when pollen counts are highest. These things can improve how you feel.

Avoid produce and other foods that might aggravate sniffles and sneezing. If your mouth, lips and throat get itchy and you sniffle and sneeze after eating certain raw or fresh fruits or other foods, you may have “oral allergy syndrome.” The condition, which affects about one third of seasonal allergy sufferers, occurs in people who are already allergic to pollen when their immune system sees a similarity between the proteins of pollen and those of the food, and triggers a reaction. If you are allergic to tree pollen, for example, foods like apples, cherries, pears, apricots, kiwis, oranges, plums, almonds, hazelnut and walnuts may bother you. Cooking or peeling the food may help.

What about allergy shots?

People with moderate to severe symptoms could benefit from immunotherapy or allergy shots.

Immunotherapy for allergies works by exposing the immune system to small amounts of an allergen. Over time and in increasingly larger doses, the body learns not to see it as a foreign invader and develops a tolerance to it. If neither over the counter or prescription medications do the trick, and you’re suffering miserably through spring, fall, or both, then allergy shots may be the answer for you.

You can build up effectiveness in a matter of a few months.

After properly identifying what you are allergic to through testing different allergies such as trees, grass, weeds, molds, and indoor allergens, the process of desensitization begins. The build-up phase of all allergy shots typically takes about 5 weeks. Two times a week, you visit your allergist’s office for a couple of hours. You get one shot, and then wait, and then get another shot later in the visit.

Once a patient has reached the maintenance phase of immunotherapy, then a weekly injection of what you are individually allergic to can be given. Most patients who are comfortable with the injections can then have these administered by a family member at home for convenience.

This weekly injection continues for a three to five year time. Studies show that if a patient will put the time into desensitization, the same effect can persist for another three to five years without doing anything.

For those who are nervous about needles, there is an option of desensitization through sublingual drops. A vast majority of patients on immunotherapy are very happy that they chose to pursue treatment.

To learn more about how to better manage your allergy symptoms or for more information, visit yakimaent.com or contact the allergy clinic at Yakima Ear Nose & Throat at 575-1000.